“I don’t know the Islamic faith well, but I do know that Muslims are our brothers and sisters and I would encourage everyone to just take a hard look at how supportive are you of all God’s children,” —Kozen Sampson, Buddhist Monk after being attacked

Kozen Sampson, a Buddhist monk and co-founder of the Trout Lake Abbey retreat, was attacked and had his head smashed into a car window in on Monday, in the state of Oregon. KATU News reports:

He doesn’t remember much, but says a man, who seemingly thought he was Muslim based on his clothing, attacked him for no reason.

“I pulled over, someone ran up and yelled. I turned around, they kicked the door, hit me in the side of the face and knocked my head into the frame of the car,” Sampson said. “I do remember [him yelling] an F bomb [about] Muslims, and that was it.”

“I was thinking, ‘That poor man.’ Can you imagine living your life in fear and anger? Can you imagine wanting to do something that you had to hurt somebody?”

Sampson hopes the attack will be a “wake up call” for others to come together and “support our fellow man no matter what God they may worship.”

Hate crimes such as this are becoming all too frequent and, in some cases, acceptable. Last week a young black woman was manhandled and dangerously pushed around at a Donald Trump rally. Yesterday, a black man was punched in the face, out of the blue, at a Donald Trump rally. It would not be surprising to find this attack against Kozen Sampson is an other result of the hateful rhetoric that has been flying out of the mouths of Republican presidential candidates. It seems hate crimes are alive and thriving in America.

6 Responses to As it is in Rome . . .

Sad state of affairs indeed. Even as a Canadian, I really hope Trump gets a hard knock lesson at some point. He incites hatred and applauds violence as seen by his response to the incidents you mention here.

Instead of blaming republican presidential candidates, let’s put the blame where it belongs. on the cowardly terrorists who hide behind civilians and then attack innocent and defenseless civilians. If they are Muslims, then let’s hear other Muslims denouncing them and taking a stand against them. Let’s have the Muslims clean up their ranks. The same applies to any group that has some trouble makers among their ranks.